Dian woke sharply to the knocking on her door. Out of pure reflex she grabbed one of her kukris off of the night stand as she snuck her way towards the door. The shadow of two legs blocked the light coming in from the hallway at the floor of the doorway. Dian carefully cracked the door open peering out so that only her left lilac eye would show. It was the dwarf innkeep. Dian only barely remembered talking to him about the room. If she didn't she felt like she would have likely killed him on the spot. "Excuse me miss. It seems you got some guests here and they're rather roily." He spoke somewhat worryingly.
"I'm not expecting guests..." Dian shown the end of her blade through the cracked door. "...they can leave me alone 'til tomorrow."
"I can't just do that! There's only one of me and about twenty of them!" His normal voice broke into a scared whisper.
"Twenty?" Dian questioned. "Not two?"
"Ma'am, a whole church procession is on the brink of rioting outside my door and they're calling for you!" He gulped loudly. "Get them to stop, please!"
About a thousand questions raced through Dian's mind, and just about all of the hypotheticals could be answered with the word 'Cult'. She scowled knowing she would have to get dressed again.
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Boots, pants, belt, turtleneck, combat harness, mask, kukris, and blood vials. Dian was ready for war. She raced down the stairs into the inn's main room to be greeted by several woken innfolk touring the commotion, and the innkeep holding the front door closed to the rowdy mob outside. She motioned for the dwarf to step aside. Doing so caused the door to fly open as several dirty, white-robed figures shuffle their way in. Their eyes glistening with awe.
"It's her!"
"The Masked Matron!"
"The prophecy is true!"
Dian considered herself a woman who is ready for anything. In her 300+ years of life this had remained true. Until now.
She was, in fact, not ready for this.
"Fuck."
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Dian's Perspective
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Give me a noble, I'll ruin them.
Give me a monster, I'll slay it.
Give me an army, I'll tear through every last soldier.
Give me fifty people worshipping me like a god... well... I have no gods damn clue. I seriously didn't expect to be surrounded and prostrated to in the main room of some inn in the middle of nowhere. Though it all made sense when I saw him, our mark, Darril Murkin. An older gentleman that stood almost as tall as myself. Short white hair and a decent lack of wrinkles. Early fifties perhaps? Gentle blue eyes and a calming smile. "It's you..." He spoke quivering slightly, like he's in disbelief. "...it's really you."
"Me?" I can't help but reply.
"Our Masked Matron; our holy savior! Show us the way!" He shouted to the ceiling with his hands outstretched. His cult posse joined with him. "Show us the way! Show us the way!" They repeated as they too lifted themselves towards the ceiling.
Alright! Think Dian! They think you're their savior or something. We can use this. Just need to find out if they're connected to demons, then I can tell them some inane bullshit that should let them live their regular lives without issue. Yeah, that'll do. I stand up straight in my noble stance. "Take me to your altar. I will decide from there what 'way' we need to go." God's this better work.
"Yes, Matron anything for you." He says graciously as he takes a bow. "Please follow me." The cult surrounds me while leaving me space to leave. I move forward with my hands ready on my weapons just in case. I don't think they plan to harm me, but if any of these fuckers touch me; I'm taking fingers. I can feel their stares, and I think I'm recognizing faces. So this is why they were gawking earlier. I'm their little cult idol, huh. I'm actually beginning to like that idea.
Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something?
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Meanwhile
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Mordeki stood in the second floor hall of the inn mentally preparing himself. He wanted to clear up the whole misunderstanding between him and Dian. Fully clear the air, leave no information out. They are supposed to be a team now, and teams don't keep secrets, even if they are painful.
"Dian?" He asked her name as he knocked on her door. It gently swung open. "I'm dreadfully s-sorry about that whole ordeal earlier..." He stepped in only to see an empty room. Just the bed, nightstand, closet, table, and... a broken chair. Another step in and his foot caught a tripwire. "Ward!" Mordeki shouted out of reaction as he threw a hand forward... but nothing happened. He followed the mechanism to a crossbow mounted at the end of the bed. It's bolt was missing.
Mordeki flicked his palm upright as a ball of light shown, banishing the shadows of the room. The chair... The disarmed trap... and... drops of blood on the floor and sheets. He looked back and forth in the room before eventually concluding.
Dian's been kidnapped!
Mordeki ran out of the room and down the stairs to the counter where the innkeep looked like he was still recovering from some traumatic event. Mordeki slammed his hands against the counter startling him. "The female elf that was with me; What happened to her!?"
The timid dwarf froze up stuttering. "Th-th-those cult guys took her!"
"WHAT!?"
"Ye-yeah! They were busting down the door to get her!"
"And you didn't try to stop them!?"
"I tried b-but there was so many!"
Mordeki slammed his fist on the counter. Even surprising himself with how angry he was. The only time he's been this angry was when his queen was suffering. Why was he this angry? Was it because he couldn't protect his partner? Was it something else? Was it because of... "Her"? He took a deep breath and ran back up to his room to get his spellbook.
He was ready for war.